Jets' Cromartie: NFL should allow pot use since players 'do it anyway'

February 05, 2014

The Sports Xchange

New York Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie says it's useless for the NFL to try to enforce a ban on marijuana.

Cromarie told Thisis50.com, an entertainment website, last week that the players are "just going to do it anyway."

"They just need to let it go," he said of the league. "They need to go ahead and say, "Ya,ll go ahead, smoke it, do what you need to do."

Medicinal marijuana, which was legal in 20 states and the District of Columbia, came up during Super Bowl week. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and coach Pete Carroll of the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks said they would be open to medicinal marijuana if it helped the players.

The Seahawks and Denver Broncos, who faced off in the Super Bowl, have legalized marijuana use in their states.

"It is still an illegal substance on a national basis," Goodell said Friday during a news conference. "It's something that is part of the collective bargaining agreement with the players. It is questionable as to the positive impacts, in the face of the very strong evidence of the negative effects, including addictions and other issues.

"We'll continue to follow the medicine. Our experts right now are not indicating that we should change our policy in any way. We are not actively considering that at this point in time. But if it goes down the road sometime, that's something that we would never take off the table."